Vaccination is considered to be the most effective and efficient approach to prevent pathogen infection. A vaccine contains a pathogen-derived antigenic material, e.g., protein, for inducing protective immune responses. In general, modified proteins, such as lipidated proteins, are more immunogenic than unmodified proteins.
Proteins in certain vaccine products have been prepared by expression in E. coli using recombinant technology. However, E. coli is generally viewed as not suitable for producing modified proteins, particularly, lipidated proteins. More specifically, E. coli cells lipidate poorly naturally lipidated proteins and do not produce non-naturally lipidated proteins in lipidated form.